Reentry (and new email address)

October was kind of a lost month, but I did have something resembling a valid excuse - I just got married last week! You'll notice the name change: Liz C is now Liz Tee.

Also, you may have noticed I have been having trouble responding to email in a timely manner. I finally realized that I have too many email addresses and don't check them often enough. To resolve that issue, I am going to reduce, reuse, and recycle: I now have one email address for all of my blogs.

You can now email me hiitsjustmee (at) gmail (dot) com. I'll also add it near the bottom of the right sidebar. I'll try to get it changed on all of the old posts, but it may take awhile.

Apologies to those I owe responses. Don't give up on me yet, I'll be getting back to you soon!
 

Let's not forget

Somehow, in the heat of producing my monster into post, I managed to omit FoodNinja over at Cooking the Food of Love. He's been working his way through 'The (New) Food of Life' by Najmieh Batmanglij. It is, he says, perhaps the definitive guide to Persian food in English. As I know nothing about Persian food, I am really excited about this one! Be sure to stop by and say hi.

Know of a CTB not listed here? Leave a comment and/or send me a link at hiitsjustmee (at) gmail (dot) com.
 

Introducing...

OK, enough shilly-shallying! Time to get caught up on intros.

In July we welcomed Tamarind Dreams, who is tackling 'Tangy Tart Hot and Sweet' by Padma Lakshmi, and Lizzie of Every Last Cookie, a college sophomore determined to conquer 'Martha Stewart's Cookies'.

In August, David of My Year on the Grill jumped on board to show us 'How to Grill' by PBS's Steven Raichlen.

So farm September has brought us several: Luckiest1, of J(and)Me, working through 'Jamie At Home' and 'Jamie's Food Revolution' by Jamie Oliver, followed by Derrick, taking on the challenge of 'Gourmet Today' (aka the Big Green Book) at BGB Challenge.

Looks like Big Green is attracting its share of attention: Annie, of Bon Appetit to You Too, told us she is also exploring 'Gourmet Today' and has renamed her blog It's Gourmet Today. Melissa and Adam are including samples of it on their 'Gourmet' blogs, too.

Our newest arrival is O'Malley, just starting on his exploration of 'Sundays at Moosewood' at Sundays at Moosewood with O'Malley. Hey, we now have our first multi-generation cook-through family -- O'Malley is Melissa's son!

I've received notes from a few more folks who are gearing up new projects, so hang on! It looks like our Fall will be ripe with CTBs to follow.

Now that's what I'm talking about!

Know of a CTB not listed here? Leave a comment and/or send me a link at hiitsjustmee (at) gmail (dot) com.
 

Opportunity?

Anyone out there looking for a cook-through challenge?

Katrina Kruse, Marketing Manager for Field Guides, Cookbooks, Dictionaries and Mysteries (or, as she puts it, 'Birds, Words, Curds, & Murds') at Houghton Mifflin Harcourt tells me Gourmet Today: More than 1000 All-New Recipes for the Contemporary Kitchen,successor to the beloved The Gourmet Cookbook,is about to launch and she's got a free copy of the book for any readers of this here blog who will blog about it.

So, what do you think? Is this going to be the book that pushes you from the ranks of CTB-reader to CTB-er? Hmmm??

If you're ready, willing, and able, email Katrina and let her know. Oh, and be sure to tell her you read about it here.

Note: I will not be compensated for this post, just hoping to help generate more CTB's to read!
:)
 

I'm so bad...

I'm not sure exactly what happened, but apparently I fell off the end of the earth (again) approximately two months ago. I've continued to receive emails about new CTBs and I even added some of them to the blogroll but never wrote up the introductions. Then, at some point I started forgetting to check my email...

Can you forgive me?

I'm going to comb through my email and be sure all the new blogs are added today, then I'll start working on a proper introduction for each of them.

And huge apologies to Melissa of Melissa Cooks Gourmet, one of our inaugural members, who fell off the blogroll when I accidentally deleted the whole blasted thing some months back during a cleaning frenzy and had to recreate it from memory.

(If you knew me, you would realize exactly how scary that last sentence is.) :)

So be sure to get caught up on Melissa's blog and leave lots of comments about how much you've missed her and what a stupid goof-head I am, 'k? And check back over the next week or so to be introduced to several new CTBs.

Know of a CTB not listed here? Leave a comment and/or send me a link at hiitsjustmee (at) gmail (dot) com.
 

Into the fray

We have two more! And we're definitely acquiring an international flair.

We have another Ramsay fan! Gary in the UK is also doing Gordon Ramsay's 'Three Star Chef' over at Gary does Gordon.

Down Under at In My Kitchen, Lisa is working her way through 'In the Kitchen' by Allan Campion and Michele Curtis. This cookbook is dedicated to showcasing modern Australian home cooking. Lisa is also a new mother, so you'll get the added bonus of some sweet, sweet baby pix.

A maintenance note: While adding our newest members, I accidentally deleted the blogroll on the right. I think I've recreated it but if you notice anything that's gone missing, please let me know.

Keep 'em coming folks!

Know of a CTB not listed here? Leave a comment and/or send me a link at hiitsjustmee (at) gmail (dot) com.
 

More, more, more!

Just when I think we couldn't possibly get any more, I get emails introducing me to more. Isn't that great?

Firstly, Nicole emailed to tell me about her new meta-CTB, The Bread Baker's Apprentice Challenge. A group of hearty souls are going to cook their way through Peter Reinhart’s 'The Bread Baker’s Apprentice: Mastering the Art of Extraordinary Bread'. There's a link to the challenge page in the Meta-CTBs list, and from there you can follow Nicole's progress at Pinch My Salt as well as the other participants.

As a recovering baker wanna-be, this one almost lured me to join in. That was not helped by the fact that the book is sitting in my bookcase, virtually untouched. But reason prevailed and I'll live vicariously through them instead. Although Nicole's post on Anadama Bread has me sorely tempted.... :)

Nextly is Richard who is taking on Michael Ruhlman's new book 'Ratio'. He has the posts nicely grouped for you under the Category Cooking Ratio on his regular blog.

This one also has me super-excited, since that 'Ratio' is currently on my wish list. As a former (recovering) math geek I've been wanting to learn ratios for years but have been unable to find much geared to the home cook. I'll be following this one very closely, for sure.

And then Sara emailed to let me know about her meta-CTB, Craving Ellie In My Belly where the participants are cooking through Ellie Krieger's 'The Foods You Crave'. This group's been at it for about 6 months so there's lots of good reading to catch up on. They are still accepting new members, so if you like Ellie's food and are looking for a group project, this might be the one for you.

Welcome, and thanks, to all of our new blogroll members. My goal is to get enough CTBs to follow so that I don't have time to get any work done whatsoever during the workweek. I'm getting there!

Know of a CTB not listed here? Leave a comment and/or send me a link at hiitsjustmee (at) gmail (dot) com.
 

A trend?

We have another CTB-er following The Great Ramsay! Welcome Louise @ Irritating Gordon. Louise is working through Gordon Ramsay's 'Three Star Chef'. She's a couple of posts into it already so this is a good time to catch up with her and follow her through.

Is she our first CTB-er Down Under? I'm thinking she gets a gold star for the great blog name, too. :)

Know of a CTB not listed here? Leave a comment and/or send me a link at hiitsjustmee (at) gmail (dot) com.

Ooo, looky!

Another meta-CTB! A group of intrepid bakers led by Lorelei is working its way through Melissa Murphy's 'Sweet Melissa Sundays'.

You can check in on them on the Sweet Melissa Sundays blog, which is listed on the Meta-CTB section in the right sidebar.

Know of a CTB not listed here? Leave a comment and/or send me a link at hiitsjustmee (at) gmail (dot) com.
 

In case you missed it

Be sure to stop by Alinea At Home and check out Carol's April 1st post. It's a beaut!

I admit, she had me. This is one of the consequences of having a memory like a sieve -- I'd completely forgotten about last year's prank.

I am such a sucker.
:)